The visit of the co-reporters of the Monitoring Committee of the
Parliamentary Assembly of the European Council to Baku is over.
The representatives of the supreme administration of the country refused
to receive Andreas Gross and Martines Kasan. Thus, official Baku remained
loyal to the policy of confrontation with the European institutions, which are dissatisfied
with how the obligations undertaken by Azerbaijan are being performed.

         The demarch of the authorities increased the negative attitude of the reporters who obtained sufficient information on the most serious problems in the area of human rights in the course of the meetings with the protectors of human rights and representatives of non-governmental organizations. There are all reasons for believing that the follow-up report of the monitoring team will be more than discomforting for the officials of Baku. Many people in Azerbaijan share this opinion. According to newspaper Echo, published in Baku, "The members of the Azerbaijanian delegation of PACE need to think of an explanation on why the country report is anticipated to be in a severe tone. The pro-Armenian inclination of Gross' behavior which is justified only by the fact that the latter used to be the assistant to the Armenian member of the Parliament is now eroded and will not find the support of the populace. How long can the failures of the foreign policy be justified by power of the Armenian Diaspora? In addition to the aforementioned, we would like to state that Ilham Aliev who is the author of the myth about the allegiance of Gross to his former Armenian boss did not attempt to provide with any evidences for the authenticity of such legend. According to our data, Gross in fact worked in the Cabinet of the Swiss Parliamentarian Victor Ruffi. An authentic Jew, Ruffi was surprised to hear the announcement about his Armenian descent.
           The Azeris are disillusioned that by means of a certain "action of disobedience" the European Council which claims that all political prisoners should be set free may conciliate its position. The leadership of ПАСЕ expressed their opinion regarding the de-march in a rather straightforward way, clearly hinting that there was no need for Azerbaijan to hope that the reporter Andreas Gross would be replaced. It was confirmed once again during the visit that Gross is still a key person in the country monitoring team. A colleague of Gross, Martines Kasan who is considered to be a politician who is more loyal to Baku, has in fact abandoned his responsibilities. His participation in the meetings held in Baku was symbolic. The General Secretary of the Democratic Party of Azerbaijan Sardar Jhalaloghlu noted about the meeting with the co-reporter that "Gross, his assistant and another person wearing eye-glasses were at the meeting". The silent person in glasses was Kasan.
           It is planned to publish the document about the finding of the reporters in October. This means that by the end of autumn Azerbaijan is going to face problems because of the pressure of the European Council. The issue of introducing sanctions against Azerbaijan will again become crucial.